By: Stephanie Wyatt
This review was originally published on YAbookscentral.com
I was given an arc for my honest review.
The book Moon & Shadow by J. Steven Lamperti tells the story of Sebastian and his quest as the Knight of Moon & Shadow to protect his town of Westhavenbrook from a monster made of nightmares that have destroyed the village next door.
The book is told in the third person close. It switches between Sebastian and the various other members of the village. I enjoyed this because it has been a while since I have read a book where the point of view of an entire group played a significant role in the story. I found myself confused at first because it took me a little while to get used to the folktale style of the book. However, I quickly became intrigued by both sides of the tale.
I didn’t know what to make of the villagers of Westhavenbrook when the book started. I thought they were just a bunch of gossiping self-important people.
Sebastian was just an average guy who saved the village with the help of friends he met along the way. His good heart helped him be a hero. I think that’s an important lesson to learn. You don’t necessarily have to be the best person to be a hero in someone’s eyes. You could be someone’s hero because of one kind gesture.
Overall, this book was different from anything I’ve read in a while. It was more like a folktale which was refreshing. I enjoyed it. I hope there are more books out there that take a genre and turn it on its head. It is the first book of the Tales of Liamec series. It is available on Amazon, and you can read it for free on Kindle Unlimited.
Functionally Fictional 